The cuts on the country’s more 300 trillion yuan ($53.88 trillion) of deposits came as the recent package of government measures to stimulate the world’s second largest economy has further squeezed bank profits. China earlier this month reduced its policy lending rate as it ramped up efforts to help an economy caught in a second trade war with the US.
Major Chinese banks cut deposit rates again, in the latest efforts to preserve their shrinking profitability and drive consumers to spend more amid a flagging economy.
Lenders including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China Ltd. and China Merchants Bank Co. trimmed rates across maturities on Tuesday. One- and two-year fixed deposit rates fell by 15 basis points, according to official announcements and updates on their mobile apps. Rates on three- and five-year deposits were slashed by 25 basis points.
